Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Tsum Tsum Party: Softies

There were so many possibilities: Tsum Tsum Head cushions, Tsum Tsum spheres, giant Tsum Tsum lumbar pillows etc. And, as the children reminded me, we could've also always gone shopping at Target for actual Tsum Tsums and handed them out as door gifts.

But then we decided, "No. We want squishy Tsum Tsums. Made, not bought."

So we bought socks in Tsum-Tsum-appropriate colors. And based on those colors, we picked characters to sew.

They were a lot of fun to make!

Here is the short version of the how-to:

Take one sock.

Examine the toe end - if it is knit (curved) around the toes, great. If it is sewn (straight) across the toes, turn the sock WS out and sew the end curved before continuing to the next step.

Cut off the ankle portion, including most of the heel, leaving the straight toe/foot portion.

Stuff.

Using a running stitch, sew around the cut opening, pull tight to gather the opening shut, and stitch it closed.

Use the toe end for the face and embellish.

Here are some of the body variations:

Variation 1: Plain solid body

Hand-stitch any details that stick up or out away from the body (mane, tail, ears) and glue any features that lie flat against the body (e.g. stripes).

Variation 2: Band around the body

Cut a short, straight section from a second sock (i.e. remove the ankle and heel) and also remove the toe portion, so that you get a band of sock fabric.

Slide it over the main body.

Tuck the edges of the open ends to the WS and ladder stitch the hems to the main body.

Embellish with other details.

Variation 3: Capsule Body

Cut a shorter ankle-less and heel-less section (but leave toe end intact) from a second sock and slide that onto the bottom end of the main body.

Tuck the edges of the open end to the WS and ladder-stitch to the main body.

Embellish with other details. Rather cut strips of fabric for stripes, we used narrow ribbon.

Here's a Tsum Tsum with a little skirt. This skirt was cut like a semi-circular skirt (or a peplum) so that it flares out even while its waist lay flat without gathers.

Here are what the bottoms look like.

We simply cut fleece or felt shapes for the base, and smaller feet pieces and glued them all on. The base is useful for covering up seams and other messy bits of your hand-stitching, and gives the Tsum Tsum a flattish bottom to sit squarely on. If you'd like a much flatter base, use fusible interfacing on the WS of the base to stiffen it, then glue that onto the body.

On the day itself, we hid the Tsum Tsums around the yard.

Then we handed out these cards that Kate designed

and assigned one to each guest.

The guests were then given their cards, and sent off to search for their toy.

Hello and Welcome!

I am a gratefully unemployed mom of three girls, all of whom are growing up much too soon! I like piles of warm, fresh laundry, the smell of salt air near the beach where I used to live, making lists, anything round (like heads) and the quiet evenings sitting with the man of the house after the kids are in bed.

Copyright

You are welcome to link to this blog and to any post on this blog and use ONE or TWO photos for that purpose. Do not use photos of my children. You are welcome to pin images from my blog, if those photos do not have my children's faces in them. Please contact me if you want to use the text on, or more photos from, this blog. Do not post my tutorials on your sites. Do not translate tutorials from this blog into other languages on your site. The ideas and instructions in the tutorials are free - but please use them to only make stuff for yourself or for gifts and not to sell. Ta! For more information, this and this might be helpful.